Boggan, Oklahoma State outlast Texas Tech in double OT

Feb 11, 2007 - 3:25 AM
STILLWATER, Oklahoma (Ticker) -- One streak had to end and
Mario Boggan made sure it would not belong to Oklahoma State.

Boggan scored 35 points, including a three-point play with 4.1
seconds left in double overtime, as the 17th-ranked Cowboys
outlasted Texas Tech, 93-91, in a Big 12 Conference matchup.

Oklahoma State (19-5, 5-4 Big 12) ended a two-game losing streak
and won its 17th consecutive game at home while improving to
4-0 in overtime games this season.

"If it was last year, we probably would have given up," Boggan
said. "This year is different because we know a game is not
over until the clock reads zero seconds left."

The Red Raiders (15-10, 4-6), meanwhile, absorbed their fifth
straight loss, the longest skid for Hall of Fame coach Bob
Knight since he was at Indiana in 1972.

The Cowboys made a near-miraculous comeback in the first
overtime session, scoring six points in five seconds to get to a
second extra session.

"I'm really proud of our guys," Cowboys coach Sean Sutton said.
"This is the fourth time we have played in overtime ... and we
were able to pull all four out. They showed a lot of grit and a
lot of character down the stretch to hang in there and keep
fighting.

"This is a game that we had to win. I am really proud of the
way our players and fans stayed with the game and fought to the
end to get us a win."

Boggan scored four points to give Oklahoma State an 89-83 lead
with 2:15 left in the second overtime, only to see Texas Tech
claw back with a 6-0 run to tie it on a layup by Michael Prince
with 33 seconds to play.

That set up Boggan's heroics, as he rebounded a miss by David
Monds and muscled home a shot from the lane while getting fouled
with 4.1 seconds to go. The 6-7 senior completed the
three-point play for a 92-89 lead.

Jarrius Jackson hit a pair of free throws with 1.3 seconds left,
but the Red Raiders couldn't get off a good shot after Oklahoma
State's JamesOn Curry made one free throw and missed the second
intentionally.

Boggan finished 10-of-17 from the field and grabbed 14 rebounds
for the Cowboys, who shot 51 percent (32-of-63).

"Mario has played great in close games," Sutton said. "You
think about the Pittsburgh game, he had 30 points against them.
In the Texas game he had 37 points and then 35 points today.
He just willed us down the stretch."

Jackson scored 24 points for Texas Tech, though he missed a
potential go-ahead layup with 30 seconds left in the first
overtime.

"We both had some opportunities to win and they had one more
than we did, and it's always tough to lose like that," Knight
said. "I think that we played better than we have a lot over
the course of the year. Anytime that you're in overtime you can
pick out 50 things during the course of the game that would
have enabled you to win it."

Texas Tech led by as many as 11 points in the second half and
seemed on the way to breaking its skid when Jackson hit a corner
jumper for an 80-73 lead with 1:29 left in the first overtime.

Trailing, 83-77, with under a minute left, Oklahoma State
rallied with a stunning sequence of events.

After Monds hit one foul shot with 41 seconds to go, he missed
the second, only to see Boggan get the rebound and score in the
lane while getting fouled one second later. He hit the foul
shot to cut the lead to 83-81 with 40 seconds left.

Curry stole the inbounds pass and drove in for the tying layup
five seconds later, and Jackson then missed a layup at the other
end to force another five minutes.

"We won and winning solves most things," Curry said. "There
were a lot of things we did wrong but we got the win. This team
has a lot of toughness."